1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium by reciprocating scan of a carriage having a recording head mounted thereon. More particularly, the present invention relates to a recording apparatus having a device for reading a result of recording on the recording medium and for automatically adjusting a recording position.
2. Description of the Related Art
The adjustment of a recording position of this kind is known as a registration operation in which the relative positional relationship of dots formed by each of a forward scanning and a rearward scanning of the recording head is adjusted to a regular relationship, and is also known as a positioning operation in which the relative positional relationship of dots formed by each of a plurality of recording heads is adjusted to a regular relationship. Specific methods of the positioning processing include a method in which, in the case of the positioning in reciprocating scanning, a predetermined pattern constituted by a plurality of dots for each of the forward scanning and the rearward scanning is recorded on a plurality of recording paper sheets at a forming timing different for each of the patterns, for example, and the recorded patterns are read by an optical measurement device. Then, a pattern materializing the positional relationship of the dots best is selected in accordance with a result of the reading, and a dot forming timing at the time of recording is set in accordance with the forming timing corresponding to the selected pattern. The positioning between a plurality of recording heads can also be carried out in substantially the same way. Hereinafter, such a positioning is referred to as an automatic registration adjustment in distinction from a manual registration adjustment or a registration adjustment by means of an operation by a user. One example of the automatic registration adjustment is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,416,151.
In recent years, a double-side recording apparatus for automatically recording on both sides of a recording paper sheet is in widespread use. In the double-side recording apparatus, after the recording on a first side of the recording paper sheet is carried out by a recording head, the sides of the recording paper sheet are reversed by a reversing mechanism, and then the recording is carried out on a second side of the recording paper sheet by the recording head. In the double-side recording apparatus, it is possible that a positional deviation of the recording paper sheet occurs when the recording paper sheet is reversed by a reversing operation, and, hence, there is a problem that the positional deviation of a recorded image occurs.